BC Partners has walked away from the roughly $300 million it committed in August to keep LIV Golf alive, leaving the bankrupt league with no backer days before a creditors hearing.
The backstory: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund put about $7 billion into LIV Golf over five seasons, funding player contracts that reached nine figures, then stopped financing the league roughly six months ago.
- LIV cancelled two tournaments, failed to pay vendors and some of its players, and filed for Chapter 11 protection in September while promising to find a new backer.
Zoom in: About 15 players had expressed interest in the relaunch. BC Partners wanted at least twice that number and concluded there were too few notable names to make the league viable, per The Athletic and the Financial Times.
By the numbers: Jon Rahm reached a separation agreement with the circuit, and Tyrrell Hatton and Sergio Garcia also left. Brooks Koepka accepted penalties to return to the PGA Tour ahead of the 2026 season.
- Bryson DeChambeau had recently said he planned to see the new version of LIV Golf through.
What's next: Representatives for Rahm and other LIV creditors appear at a hearing in New Jersey on Thursday, hoping to finalise agreements with a league that is now unfunded.
Why it matters: A sovereign wealth fund spent about $7 billion to break golf’s monopoly and ended up with a bankruptcy estate, a cautionary number for every investor buying into a breakaway league.
